Play The Game
by Clare
Summary: When Sayuri first started playing Magical Girl Raising Project, she had no idea she would one day turn into her character, Lupina. But she did and it changed her life forever. OC-centric. Pre-Unmarked.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One**

For Sayuri Kanetaka, as it did for so many others, it all started when she stumbled across an advert for a new smartphone game called _Magical Girl Raising Project_.

She had played smartphone games before, RPGs for the most part, but they always seemed to end up requiring the player to spend real money. Sure, you might get a few basic starter items for free and there was usually some form of virtual currency you could use to upgrade your equipment, but, sooner or later, you would have to start dipping into your bank account if you wanted to progress. An exclusive item that couldn't be purchased through any other means. A subscription fee which you had to pay if you wanted to carry on playing after a specified period of time had elapsed. But _Magical Girl Raising Project_ was different; the intro page included the claim that it was:

 _Completely free to play! No purchase required - ever!_

When she saw this, Sayuri's heart leapt with excitement. A completely free smartphone game and one themed around magical girls as well! Magical girls. Young heroines dressed in elaborate costumes, wielding all sorts of awesome powers. Sayuri's DVD collection included several examples of the genre, but she had never before come across a game in which the player character was a magical girl. Choosing to play as a female character in a fantasy game was about as close as you usually got and they always seemed to get a raw deal compared to the males when it came to costumes and equipment. Everything was either ridiculously skimpy or completely impractical for combat. Which made Sayuri suspect that those games were geared more towards guys who wanted to ogle scantily clad women, or at least their virtual forms.

But maybe this game would be different. It certainly seemed to be targeted at a female audience, so maybe whoever had come up with it had designed some items that weren't essentially swimwear masquerading as armour. That, plus the claim that it was "completely free", was what prompted Sayuri to click on the button marked _Begin Game_.

* * *

A small creature appeared on the screen against a backdrop showing a lake. It did not look like any animal Sayuri had seen, real or imaginary. In fact, it did not look like an animal at all. It was spherical, one half being white with a black eye, while the other was black with a red eye. A single wing sprouted from its white half, scattering scales as it flapped. And its mouth looked as though it was permanently set to the same expression, a simple emoji-like smile.

"Greetings, pon!" the creature said in a high-pitched voice. "I am Fav, your guide in the Magical Kingdom, pon. Please create your character and your adventures can begin, pon!"

With that, the creature, Fav, disappeared and a girl dressed in bra and panties appeared, along with various options for customising her hair, her eyes, her outfit. There were thousands of items to choose from, ranging from traditional magical girl outfits such as stylised versions of Japanese school uniforms or dresses trimmed with lace and ribbons to stuff that was about as far removed from most people's idea of what a magical girl would wear as it was possible to get. There were even some items that revealed a little too much flesh, exactly the sort of thing Sayuri did _not_ want her character to wear. Still, there was plenty of stuff to choose from and it was all completely free. New players in this game clearly weren't restricted to dressing like peasants until they could afford something better; they could create a cool outfit right away. And that was what Sayuri now set out to do.

After several minutes of trying on various combinations of items, Sayuri's magical girl alter ego was ready to begin her adventures.

Her name was Lupina. Sayuri had opted to make her a cute wolf girl, adding matching ears to her navy blue shoulder length hair and a tail (also navy blue) which stuck out of the back of her dress. The dress itself could best be described as fantasy with a modern twist, black with silver trimming, the ends of the sleeves hanging down, the skirt short and flared with a scalloped edge. Below this, Lupina wore white knee-high boots. A silver necklace round her neck and tiara in her hair completed the outfit. She looked at Sayuri out of large brown eyes which seemed to say she couldn't wait to get started.

"Do you wish to play as this character, pon?" asked Fav.

Sayuri wondered why Fav kept ending sentences with the word "pon", which wasn't even a word, but quickly dismissed it as something which had been programmed by the game's designers, whoever they were. She selected _Yes_ and Lupina was swiftly transported to the Magical Kingdom.

* * *

Lupina wasn't able to explore the Magical Kingdom right away; like any new player, Sayuri had to play through the game's various tutorials before her character was allowed to venture beyond the starting point. Following instructions from Fav, she learned how to move Lupina around, how to use magic, how to check her store of magical candies, the latter being the reward players received for completing quests and defeating enemies. Sayuri's store was empty at first, but, after only a few hours of playing time, she completed her first quest and earned her first candies. A simple quest designed for beginners which involved battling and defeating a rat-like creature which had been stealing food from a village. In response to the buttons Sayuri pressed on her smartphone, Lupina, having tracked the rat-creature down, attacked it repeatedly until it died, at which point Fav appeared.

"Congratulations, pon! You have earned five magical candies!"

Five magical candies. And, as Sayuri progressed through the game, fitting her playing sessions around school and helping out in her dad's sushi restaurant, her store of candies steadily increased. She played the game in story mode for the most part, but she and her two best friends from school, Keiko Ueda and Hanako Inada, sometimes got together for multi-player sessions. Keiko had a steampunk-themed character called Tick-tock whose costume included an oversized pocket watch. Hanako's character, Princess Hanako, wore a peach dress that looked like a cross between a kimono and a school uniform with a green obi and slippers, both of which looked as though they were made out of leaves; she also carried a wand which had leaves growing out of it and wore a flower which matched her dress in her hair. And, as the weeks passed, they began to come across rumours that there was something different about _Magical Girl Raising Project_ , something which meant it was more than just another smartphone game.

* * *

"Hey, check this out!"

Sayuri, with Keiko and Hanako beside her, was browsing _Magical Girl Raising Project_ fansites when she stumbled upon a site dedicated to "real-life magical girl encounters". It was filled with reports from people claiming to have been helped by mysterious girls, all of whom had two things in common. They were, according to the people who said they had seen them, "too beautiful to be human" and their outfits resembled those which could be created using items available in the game. And, from what the alleged eyewitnesses were saying, this wasn't just a case of people cosplaying as their _Magical Girl Raising Project_ characters. It seemed some of the game's players had somehow become their characters and were using their powers to help others. And several of the sightings were within a ten-kilometre radius of Sayuri, Keiko and Hanako's hometown of K City. One involved a woman who had been saved from molestation in a back alley by a girl dressed like a Viking. In another, a gang of thieves had been stopped by two girls flying gliders, who had then returned all the stolen items to their rightful owners . . .

"Could it be true?" Hanako wondered out loud, voicing what the three friends were all thinking. It was fun to watch anime shows about magical girls and to play at being one in a smartphone game, but they all knew such things belonged in the realms of fantasy. Magical girls didn't really exist, did they?

"It would be great if it was," said Keiko, closing her eyes as she imagined herself, Sayuri and Hanako, transformed into their respective characters, doing their bit to make K City a better place. But the logical part of her mind told her these stories were just online rumours, the products of overactive imaginations or possibly some bizarre publicity stunt. Perhaps the company behind the game were paying people to claim they had encountered magical girls in the hope that it would attract more players. People driven by idle curiosity. Kids drawn in by the possibility, no matter how unlikely, of becoming real-life versions of fictional heroines with magical powers.

"I wonder what you'd have to do to become a magical girl. If they were real, I mean," Sayuri clarified as she realised she was letting her imagination run away with her. She had grown quite attached to Lupina in the weeks since she first started the game, but the girl with the wolf-like ears and tail was a fictional character, a piece of data which she herself had generated. Which meant the closest Sayuri was likely to get to actually being Lupina was if she ran up a cosplay. On the other hand, there was something about these stories that made her wonder if there might be some truth to them; it would be so cool if she really could turn into Lupina and do all the stuff her character could do in the game.

She shook her head, telling herself there was no way that was going to happen. _Magical Girl Raising Project_ was just a game and Lupina was just a character in that game. The rumours that people were transforming into real-life magical girls as a result of playing the game were just that. Rumours.

* * *

A few days later, however, Sayuri had just completed another quest in the Magical Kingdom when Fav suddenly appeared. "Congratulation, pon!" he said. Since starting the game, Sayuri had learned that Fav, despite having a gender neutral appearance and name, was a male of whatever species he was supposed to be. "You've been selected to become a true magical girl, pon!" Thinking this meant she'd reached a point in the game where she'd unlocked content that wasn't available to less advanced players, Sayuri skipped over the rest of Fav's spiel without paying attention to what he was saying. The next thing she knew, a bright light suddenly emerged from her phone and enveloped her.

As soon as the light had faded, Sayuri looked down at herself - and gasped at what she saw. Literally seconds ago, she had been wearing blue jeans and a white t-shirt with a pink star on the front, but that had suddenly disappeared, replaced by a black dress trimmed with silver and a pair of knee-high white boots. Exactly the same outfit Lupina wore in the game. And, when she looked in her full length mirror, she saw Lupina looking back at her, navy blue hair, wolf ears and all. She even had a tail the same colour as her hair sticking out of a slit in the back of her dress. What was going on? Why did she suddenly look like a character she had created for a smartphone game? She remembered the rumours about real magical girls, but she'd never taken them seriously, much less expected to be one of those who transformed. Now, however . . .

"Is this for real?" Even her voice sounded different, she noted, sweeter and more melodic, the kind of voice magical girls had in anime. "Or am I dreaming?"

"No, you are not dreaming, pon," Fav said from her phone. " _Magical Girl Raising Project_ is different from other games, pon. It was created by someone who wished to find those who were worthy of becoming true magical girls, pon. And you have been chosen, pon. You are now Lupina, pon."

Sayuri, or rather Lupina, studied her reflection, noting how completely flawless her appearance had become, her skin free from any kind of blemish, her features perfectly proportioned, her arms and legs elegant and shapely. Even the fact that she had a tail felt perfectly natural, as though it had always been there. And she could feel energy coursing through her like she had never known before, energy which far exceeded that of a normal human. As Sayuri, she was her school's athletics champion and had broken several records, but she needed no-one to tell her that Lupina wouldn't just break those records; she would shatter them. Not to mention that, being a magical girl, Lupina had the ability to use magic, something Sayuri could only dream of. There was just one question.

"What kind of magic can I use?" she asked. In the game, there were many kinds of magic available, some more useful than others, but players could use whatever magic they liked at any time, provided they had met the right criteria. But she had a feeling things weren't going to work like that in the real world.

"Why don't you check your magical phone, pon?"

In response to Fav's suggestion, she looked to find a phone on her desk which had not been there a few minutes ago. The moment she picked it up, she sensed it was not like her normal phone, that it could only be used by someone who, like her, had been chosen. And, seconds later, Fav appeared on its heart-shaped screen. "These devices are issued to all new magical girls, pon. It will allow you to keep in touch with others like yourself, pon. And you can use it to look up your stats, pon."

She did so and the screen was immediately filled with information on her true identity, her vital statistics as Lupina, how long she had been playing when she was chosen . . . Her personality was described as "fiercely loyal to her friends", her magic as "can transform any inanimate object into any kind of weapon". Fav explained that everyone who was chosen was given one magical ability which reflected their character and that there was no way to change this ability. Not that Lupina minded; being able to turn things into weapons sounded cool, but how did her new powers work? She put this question to Fav, who flapped his single wing, scattering scales across the screen.

"Just pick up an object and think about what kind of weapon you want it to be, pon. The object you're holding will then transform into that weapon, pon. To change it back, all you have to do is put it down and avoid touching it for sixty seconds, pon. Why don't you give it a try, pon?"

Lupina looked around for something she could use to test her powers, finally settling on her hairbrush. She picked it up and closed her eyes, visualising it transforming into a dagger, the first weapon which popped into her head, feeling it vibrating in her hand as it changed its form. Opening her eyes, she looked down at the hand which had been holding a brush moments before, but was now holding a shining dagger with a steel blade roughly six inches long and a handle shaped like a wolf's head. And, though she had never handled any kind of weapon before, it felt natural in her hand, like an extension of her arm. That had to be part of her magic; after all, it wouldn't be much use having the ability to turn objects into weapons if you couldn't wield those weapons in combat. She put the dagger down and waited for it to turn back into a brush.

"So can I turn anything I pick up into a weapon?" she asked next.

"Yes, pon. Provided it isn't organic and provided it isn't another magical girl's special item, pon. Apart from that, whatever you pick up as Lupina will become a weapon if you concentrate hard enough, pon."

Fav had a lot more to say about what it meant to be a magical girl. Just like in the game, their duty was to collect magical candies, though, since the real world didn't have monsters to fight, the best way to do this was to help those in need. "But you won't be allowed to work alone just yet, pon," Fav added. "You'll need to learn from a mentor, pon."

"A mentor?"

"Another magical girl, pon. You'll meet the others based in K City if you attend this week's chat, pon. It takes place tomorrow evening, pon. Fav hopes to see you there, pon. Oh, and one more thing, pon. When you turn back into your normal form, you must not tell anyone that you are a magical girl, pon. If you do, you will forfeit your powers immediately, pon."

Before Lupina could ask Fav any follow-up questions, she heard someone tapping on her bedroom door, followed by her mum's voice telling her (or rather Sayuri) dinner was ready. Knowing she could not let her parents see her like this, she quickly closed her eyes and willed herself to turn back into Sayuri. When she looked in the mirror again, there was no sign of Lupina, just the reflection of an ordinary fifteen-year-old girl looking back at her.

* * *

Sayuri spent the next day in a state of nervous excitement, knowing she now had a secret identity which she could never reveal to anyone, not even Keiko and Hanako. If she did, she would lose her new powers before she'd had a chance to really test them and she didn't want that, especially so soon after she had been given those powers. Hers was a rare privilege and the last thing she wanted was to have it rescinded because she had broken the conditions under which it had been granted. So she kept quiet and tried to act casual, though she had an uneasy feeling that people were looking at her as though they sensed there was something different about her. But, as long as she didn't say out loud that she could now transform into a magical girl, her secret would be safe. All the same, she could hardly wait until evening when she would get to make contact with others like herself for the first time.

The weekly chat took place in a virtual room which was modelled after a conference centre, with each player entering as a stylised version of their avatar. The function was only available on magical phones, which meant no-one could take part unless they were a true magical girl and even they had to be transformed in real life before they could enter. So, that evening, Sayuri made sure she was alone, then transformed into Lupina and logged into the chat room. As soon as her virtual self appeared on the screen, she was greeted by six other magical girls, each of whom was dressed in a distinct style. One was modelled after a Viking maiden complete with winged helmet and flaxen braids. Another wore a white dress and lavender boots with a silver halo hovering over her teal hair. A third looked as though her dress was made from spiders' webs. A pink-haired girl whose outfit was a mix of red-and-black velvet trimmed with gold. A girl who looked as though she had stepped straight out of the jungle. A girl whose costume included an artist's beret and oversized paint brush. There was, Lupina noted, an eighth magical girl in the room, whose outfit was draped in red roses, but it didn't seem like she was about to greet her any time soon. This girl sat in a corner, playing a violin, seemingly oblivious to the others.

Fav appeared in a flurry of spores. _"Good evening, pon. Fav is happy to see so many of you in attendance, pon. And Fav is especially happy to see Lupina, who is joining us for the first time, pon. Please give her a big Magical Kingdom welcome, pon!"_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Lupina spent her first chat session getting to know her fellow magical girls, most of whom were more than willing to share stories of their exploits. The Viking girl, Gudrun Odinsdottir, told her about the time she'd caught a man trying to molest a woman in an alley and knocked him out with an energy ball fired from the red shield that was part of her costume. _"And then I got out my phone - my normal phone, not my magical phone - and called the police,"_ she explained. _"After that, I made sure the woman was safe and got out of there as fast as I could."_

 _"Didn't you want to stick around in case there was some kind of reward?"_ asked Lupina.

 _"I'd already earned my reward,"_ Gudrun replied. _"Two hundred magical candies. You usually get around fifty or sixty at the most. But saving someone from a pervert like that guy is a little bigger than picking up dropped change or whatever, so I guess it netted me a few more candies than normal. I ended up being the top candy-earner that week. Which annoyed Jewel no end."_

 _"Jewel?"_ So far, Lupina had only learned the names of two of the other magical girls in the chat. Gudrun Odinsdottir was one and the other was Yumi Tsubasa, the girl in the white dress. So which of the others was Gudrun talking about?

 _"The one with the pink hair. She's usually the one who gets the most candies each week and she doesn't like to be second best. Long story short, she called me on my magical phone the next day and basically accused me of cheating. Anyway . . ."_

Gudrun was cut off abruptly as a speech bubble appeared above Jewel's avatar. _This message cannot be displayed due to bad language._ Clearly, Lupina thought as she lay on her bed watching her virtual self mingling with the others, there were magical girls in K City, and possibly elsewhere in the world, who had a serious attitude problem. Perhaps it would be wise to find out if there was anyone else she should watch out for; the last thing she wanted was to get on the wrong side of another magical girl, especially when she didn't yet know what most of them could do with their powers. She quickly put this question to Gudrun.

 _"Don't worry,"_ came the reply. _"Most of us are pretty friendly. Well, apart from Jewel and Goldirocks. And then there's Cranberry - she's the one with all the roses on her costume - but she's more of a loner than anything. Attends every chat, but never talks. Just sits in the corner and plays her violin."_

By the end of the chat, Lupina had learned the names of all the girls present. Apart from Gudrun, Yumi, Cranberry, Jewel and herself, there was Junglegirrl, Da Vinci and Fujiko. In addition, there were six other magical girls from K City, including Goldirocks, not in attendance; Gudrun explained that, while Fav liked to have as many of the girls in the chat as possible, there were no rules which said you had to be there, so it was rare to have a full house. But, if Lupina became a regular, she would eventually get to meet those who weren't here tonight, virtually if not in the flesh. She replied that she was looking forward to it.

Fav then announced that Jewel had once again collected the most candies out of all the girls, at which point he would normally have declared the chat over. This week, however, there was a new addition to their ranks, which meant . . . _"Oh, and one more thing before you go, pon. As the newest magical girl, Lupina needs someone to show her the ropes, pon. Gudrun Odinsdottir has volunteered for this task, pon. Fav wishes her and her new student all the best, pon. And that's it for another week, pon. Remember, earn lots of candies and Fav hopes to see you again next week, pon."_

* * *

 _Fujiko has exited the Magical Kingdom._

 _Yumi Tsubasa has exited the Magical Kingdom._

 _Junglegirrl has exited the Magical Kingdom._

 _Gudrun Odinsdottir has exited the Magical Kingdom._

 _Jewel has exited the Magical Kingdom._

 _Lupina has exited the Magical Kingdom._

 _Da Vinci has exited the Magical Kingdom._

Cranberry, or Musician of the Forest, Cranberry to use her full name, watched as the others logged out of the chat one by one and their avatars disappeared. Now it was just her and Fav and she had a few things to discuss with him in private. "So what do you think of the new girl?" she asked, her back pressed against the rocky wall. She had chosen this cave in the mountains overlooking K City as her base mainly because it was inaccessible to anyone who wasn't a magical girl or didn't have specialist climbing equipment, which meant she wasn't likely to be disturbed. If anyone did stray too close to this spot, she would soon deal with them; her magic gave her the ability to manipulate sound, useful for triggering landslides. In the case of a fellow magical girl, however, she would probably challenge her to combat in order to test her skills. After all, she was supposed to be on a mission to scout for new talent and her greatest dream was to find an opponent worthy of her. So why not kill two birds with one stone?

"Lupina, pon?" Fav replied from Cranberry's magical phone. The device contained a variety of apps not found on the phones issued to most magical girls, but then again Cranberry was not like the others. She had been a magical girl much longer than all of them put together - and that was just for starters. "It's too early to say, pon. Her ability to turn objects into weapons may make her a suitable candidate, but we have yet to see her in action, pon."

Cranberry folded her arms across her chest. "Well, we won't have to wait long, not if Gudrun Odinsdottir is mentoring her. And the rivalry between Gudrun and Jewel should make things . . . interesting once we begin the test. Remind me," she added, "how many more do we need?"

"Fav has created thirteen magical girls in and around K City, pon. Once three more have been recruited . . ."

"Yes," said Cranberry. "That's when the fun _really_ begins." A smile played across her elf-like features, a smile which looked decidedly out of place on a magical girl.

* * *

The moment she changed back into her human form, Sayuri grabbed her normal phone, eager to tell Keiko and Hanako about the chat, in particular the fact that she had just been chatting with some of the magical girls they had been reading about online only a few days ago. The rumours about people transforming into their _Magical Girl Raising Project_ characters and using their powers to help others were not just rumours. She had even met the girl in the Viking costume in the chat and she would shortly meet her in the flesh . . .

She stopped, her finger hovering over her phone's keypad. What was she doing? Fav had told her she must never reveal to a normal human that she was a magical girl or she would lose her powers. And, since Keiko and Hanako had not been chosen, this included them. She couldn't even tell them she'd found out the rumours about _Magical Girl Raising Project_ were true in case it led to awkward questions. Not unless they too joined the ranks of those who had become magical girls in real life and there was no telling if or when that would happen. No, she must not give them any kind of hint that Lupina had become more than just a character in a game, even if they were her best friends.

Oh, well. It wasn't like she couldn't hang out with Keiko and Hanako any more; she just had to be careful what she said in front of them. Which, if she was going to be out earning magical candies most nights, meant she would have to start coming up with excuses to explain why she couldn't join them at the movies, or the burger bar, or the various other places in K City where the three of them liked to go in the evening. And then there was the "small matter" of her parents. If they ever found out she was sneaking out at night, she would have a lot of explaining to do and that would almost certainly lead to her being found out.

She was now leading a double life. A normal fifteen-year-old schoolgirl by day, a magical heroine by night. And she must never allow anyone who wasn't a fellow magical girl to find out her true identity.

* * *

The following evening, after she had finished her shift at her dad's sushi restaurant, Sayuri slipped into the yard behind the establishment. There, unobserved by human eyes, she transformed into Lupina, the newest of the magical girls based in K City. Gone was the uniform she wore while working in the restaurant. In its place appeared a black dress trimmed with silver, white boots, a silver necklace and matching tiara. Her hair turned from jet black to navy blue and a pair of wolf ears sprouted from the top of her head. Finally, a tail emerged from a slit in the back of her dress. As soon as the transformation, which only took a few seconds, was complete, she felt the same surge of energy she had felt when she first became Lupina.

The yard was surrounded by a high wall which was impossible for ordinary humans to climb without the aid of a ladder. But not magical girls. With her enhanced physical abilities, Lupina was able to scale the wall easily; seconds later, she stood on its top, perfectly balanced on the narrow surface, feeling the breeze in her hair, listening with her now heightened senses to the sounds of the city at night. Somewhere out there, she thought to herself, her fellow magical girls were using their powers to help those in need and she would soon join them for the first time. But, before she could even think about helping anyone, she had to go meet up with Gudrun. She jumped off the wall, the height of which was no problem for a magical girl, landing with as much poise as a gymnast pulling off a gold medal winning routine. Though, if she wanted to, she could easily outclass every gymnast on the planet, thanks to her magically enhanced body.

She took out her magical phone and opened up the Quick Dial menu, selecting Gudrun's name from the list. Seconds later, the magical girl known by that name appeared on the heart-shaped screen. "Lupina, hi."

"Same to you," Lupina replied. "Where are you?"

"I'm at the temple on the outskirts of town. Meet you there in twenty minutes?"

* * *

Lupina, being a magical girl, was able to reach the temple in well under twenty minutes, arriving to find Gudrun perched atop one of the red arches at the entrance. For a moment, it crossed her mind that the other magical girl's Viking get-up looked out of place against the traditional Japanese architecture, but she had no time to think about it before Gudrun jumped down to join her. The two girls stood for several seconds, each studying the other as they met face-to-face for the first time, before Gudrun spoke. "Ready to go help some people?"

"Sure," Lupina replied, eager to get started on her new career as a magical girl. Then, she frowned as something occurred to her. "But how will we know if anyone needs help?"

"By keeping our eyes and ears open for any signs of trouble. Of course, it would be easier if we could fly, but not all magical girls can, so those who can't have to keep watch from the tops of skyscrapers, streetlamps, anything that'll give you a good view of the city. You see over there?" Gudrun gestured in the direction of the floodlights which marked the location of K City's large sporting arena. "That's where Jewel and Goldirocks like to keep watch. Which is why we won't be going anywhere near it."

Oh, yes. There was some sort of rivalry between Gudrun and Jewel - and, from what Lupina had learned in the chat, it was not a friendly one. Jewel had even accused Gudrun of cheating simply because the Viking girl had earned more magical candies than her one week, not to mention that she'd tried to swear in the chat when Gudrun was telling Lupina about it. So it was probably a good idea to stay out of Jewel's territory unless you were on friendly terms with her, which Gudrun certainly wasn't. And, since simply being associated with Gudrun was probably enough to make her the enemy as far as Jewel was concerned, that meant Lupina too should give the arena a wide berth if she wanted to avoid any unpleasant incidents.

"OK," Lupina said once she'd had time to take in Gudrun's words. "So where do you normally keep watch?"

It turned out that Gudrun had several favourite vantage points, one of them being the arch over the entrance to the temple. But, since this part of K City was pretty quiet at night, opportunities to do good deeds and earn magical candies were somewhat thin on the ground. "So we'll head over to the Fushiyoshi building," Gudrun explained, referring to the twelve-storey office block where her husband worked. By day, she was Megumi Kanai, a twenty-six-year-old wife and mother of a four-year-old son called Hiroshi and a two-year-old daughter called Atsuko. Gudrun, on the other hand, seemed to be in her teens, as did most magical girls; the only exceptions in K City were Cranberry and Goldirocks, both of whom could pass for around twenty, though it was impossible to tell how old they were in reality. And Gudrun knew she was unlikely to find out any time soon; Cranberry wasn't the sort to volunteer information about herself, least of all her true age, and Goldirocks was friends with Jewel, who hated Gudrun on principle. So no chance there either.

In any case, Gudrun and Lupina hurried over to the Fujiyoshi building and, having climbed up the outside, stationed themselves on the roof to keep watch for anyone who needed help.

* * *

Lupina, perched on the edge of the roof with her legs dangling, was the first to hear the disturbance. Male voices swearing and making crude comments, the words punctuated by the sound of blows. Another voice, also male, begging whoever was delivering the blows to stop. She needed no-one to tell her that, somewhere in the street below, someone was being beaten up, though it was impossible to tell from up here what had provoked the attack. And she also knew what she and Gudrun, as magical girls charged with protecting the citizens of K City, had to do. It was something she would never have done before, knowing she would only get herself hurt, but things were different now. She was a magical girl, physically stronger and faster than she was as a normal human, and she had another magical girl with her to back her up.

"Gudrun!" she called in an urgent whisper, pointing down to the street below.

Gudrun, who had been sitting beside her, was on her feet instantly. She too had picked up the sounds of someone being attacked and, as the senior magical girl of the pair, had been about to alert Lupina, only her student had beaten her to it. Not that it mattered; what mattered was that this was a chance to do a good deed and earn candies. "I hear it," she said. "Come on!" Seconds later, she and Lupina simultaneously dived off the roof, landing easily on the concrete ground twelve storeys below. Thanks to their enhanced senses, it didn't take long for them to pinpoint where the disturbance was coming from and they hurried off in that direction. Along the way, Lupina grabbed a discarded soda can and used her magic to transform it into a katana, the curved blade long and deadly. It sounded like she and Gudrun could soon have a fight on their hands and she wanted to be prepared.

Reaching the scene of the attack, Gudrun and Lupina found four men gathered around a fifth, who lay prone on the ground as the others laid into him, beating and kicking him as he struggled to shield himself with his arms, pleading with them to leave him alone. This, however, only seemed to encourage the gang, one of whom had a scar running diagonally down his left cheek; Lupina guessed he was the leader. The gang were so engrossed in what they were doing that they hadn't noticed the arrival of the two magical girls. Well, they would notice soon enough . . . "Hey!" she shouted. "Four against one isn't fair!"

At the sound of her voice, the gang whipped round to find themselves facing two girls, one dressed like a Viking, the other sporting a wolf's ears and tail and carrying a katana. Before any of them had time to realise what was happening, a ball of energy shot out of the Viking girl's shield and struck the ringleader full in the chest. The impact knocked him back several feet to land in a crumpled heap. Not one of his so-called friends made a move to help him, though that was mainly because they were preoccupied with the wolf girl, who was wielding her katana as easily as if she had been training with it all her life, taking two members of the gang on at once. The remaining thug tried to make a grab for her, only to miss as she leapt over his head and kicked him full in the crotch; seconds later, he was on the ground, clutching himself and groaning. Two more energy balls from the Viking girl's shield and all four gang members were down, three unconscious, one in too much pain to even think about fighting on.

Once they were satisfied that the gang posed no further threat, Gudrun and Lupina turned their attention to the man on the ground. A young man, maybe twenty-five to thirty, with dishevelled clothes and a bleeding cut on his forehead. "Are you all right?" Gudrun asked, kneeling beside him. "Can you get up?"

He groaned, but managed to sit up. "I - I think so. But I wouldn't be if you two hadn't come along . . ." Suddenly, he paused, staring at Gudrun and Lupina as if he'd had a sudden revelation. "You're two of them, aren't you? Two of the magical girls I read about online!" Neither Gudrun nor Lupina said anything to confirm or deny this. "Thank you ever so much!" the man hurried on. "I don't know where I'd be without you! When those thugs cornered me, I thought I was done for, but who should come to my rescue? Why, none other that two real live magical girls!"

Gudrun frowned; the man was babbling, which could be a sign of concussion, or just excitement at meeting two of K City's magical girls. Either way, he needed help which she and Lupina could not give him since neither of them possessed the right kind of magic. They could take on four grown men and leave them lying on the ground, but they could not magically heal injuries. That meant, there was only one thing for it. "We'll have to get you to the hospital," she told him. "That cut on your forehead looks like it needs stitching and I don't know what other injuries you might have. Come on, we'll help you." With that, she and Lupina helped the man to his feet and the three of them began to make their way to the nearest hospital, the magical girls supporting him on either side.

Along the way, the man, having recovered slightly, was able to tell Gudrun and Lupina that the thugs had been after his wallet, which they had fortunately not managed to get. Again, he repeated how grateful he was, to which Gudrun replied that this was "all part of the job", adding that she hoped she and Lupina had taught the would-be robbers a lesson they would never forget. They had been very brave when attacking a normal human whom they outnumbered by four to one, but, faced with two magical girls, they had quickly been defeated. Though _one_ magical girl would have been more than capable of taking on the gang, thanks to the enhanced physical abilities they all possessed.

Gudrun and Lupina took the man as far as the main entrance to the hospital, then left him to make his own way inside. Their magical girl costumes would attract too much attention if they went in with him and they couldn't detransform in front of a normal human in case it led to their true identities being revealed. So they left him and set off to look for more people to help. Moments later, they received a notification from Fav to check their magical phones.

They did so. "I've earned . . . two hundred and fifty candies!" Lupina couldn't help shouting this out loud in her excitement. She'd already gathered a fairly respectable number of candies in the virtual world of _Magical Girl Raising Project_ , but these were the first she'd received for doing a good deed as a real magical girl.

"So have I!" Gudrun, for all she tried to keep her voice down, couldn't help the note of excitement which crept in. Between them, she and Lupina had won a total of five hundred magical candies. And the night was still young; somewhere out there, more opportunities to do good deeds and obtain even more candies awaited.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

Lupina watched as her virtual self appeared on the screen, accompanied by the words: _Lupina has entered the Magical Kingdom_. It was time for another weekly chat and the avatars of five magical girls were already in the chat room: Gudrun Odinsdottir, Yumi Tsubasa, Cranberry and two who had not been present last week. There was a girl whose spiky blonde hair was tied back in a ponytail, her costume consisting of a headband, a crop top, gloves which covered most of her arms, a navel piercing, a plaid mini skirt, fishnets and lace-up boots in a combination of black and electric blue. Not your typical magical girl get-up, but that was the beauty of _Magical Girl Raising Project_ ; rather than being restricted to the kind of outfits magical girls tended to wear in anime, you could dress your character however you wanted. As whoever had come up with this character had done.

The other girl who had been absent last week could not have looked more different. She was the archetypal cute magical girl. Her flaxen curls were topped with an enormous pink-and-lavender bow and she wore a matching babydoll dress with ruffles round the collar, hem and sleeves and a bow attached to the back. Her boots were lavender, as was the jewelled sceptre she carried. No doubt, Lupina thought, that sceptre had something to do with the girl's magic, though she had no way of knowing what form that magic took.

 _"Yo, wassup?!"_ said the spiky-haired girl. _"You keeping all right? LOL!"_ An emoji in the form of a laughing face ended her greeting.

 _"On behalf of the Magical Kingdom I, Kawaii Kazue, welcome you,"_ added the girl dressed in pink and lavender. She too ended her greeting with an emoji; in this case, it was a pink heart of the sort often associated with magical girls in anime. Especially the kind who used their powers solely for the purpose of spreading peace and happiness.

Just as Lupina was about to make a greeting of her own, the avatars of three more magical girls appeared. One, dressed in an outfit which included a tiger print bra and matching wraparound skirt with a necklace of canine teeth round her neck, was Junglegirrl. The other two were . . . Sitting on her bed, Lupina let out a gasp. One of the newcomers wore a steampunk inspired corset dress with an oversized pocket watch at her waist, while the other wore a peach kimono/school uniform with a leaf-like obi and slippers. She needed no-one to tell her they were Tick-tock and Princess Hanako, otherwise known as Keiko Ueda and Hanako Inada. Her two best friends. Now there was no need for her to keep Lupina a secret from them; they were part of the world she had joined just over a week ago. The world of those who had been chosen to be real life magical girls.

 _"Hey,"_ she said, adding a smiling emoji. _"So it happened to you too?"_

 _"Yeah,"_ replied Tick-tock. _"A few days ago. I'd just cleared a quest in the game when Fav suddenly started talking to me and, the next thing I knew, I was a magical girl!"_

 _"Me too!"_ added Princess Hanako. _This is so cool! Now we'll all be magical girls together!"_

Lupina wished it could be that simple, but she knew Tick-tock and Hanako would have to be assigned mentors to teach them how to be magical girls. She also knew it was unlikely she would be chosen to mentor either of them, best friends or not, since she was still a newbie herself. Though she had learned a lot from Gudrun over the last week, it would be a while before she was ready for an apprentice of her own. But maybe she and Gudrun would be able to team up with Tick-tock, Hanako and their respective mentors to form a team of six magical girls. Just like the magical girls in anime.

Just then, a flurry of spores heralded Fav's arrival. _"Good evening, pon. Fav is pleased to announce that we have not one, but two new magical girls joining us, pon. So say hello to Tick-tock and Princess Hanako, pon."_

* * *

The rest of the chat was much like the one Lupina had attended the previous week. The girls exchanged news about the people they had helped, or at least most of them did. Cranberry made no effort to interact with any of the others, not even to welcome Tick-tock and Hanako to the group. It had been the same last week, Lupina recalled; the elf-like magical girl whose costume was draped with roses had done nothing but sit in the corner and play her violin. Exactly like she was doing now. And, according to Gudrun, no-one knew what she got up between chats.

As Sayuri, Lupina had searched the Internet for as many variations of: _magical girl red roses_ as she could come up with, only to draw a blank each time. None of the people who claimed to have been helped by magical girls ever mentioned a girl with roses on her costume, which suggested that, for some reason, Cranberry did not spend her time doing good deeds in order to earn magical candies. In fact, she didn't seem to do anything apart from attend the weekly chat and she didn't even participate in that, just hung around in the background and serenaded the others with her music. Not that this was any cause for concern among the other magical girls; most of them just assumed Cranberry was a loner, that she never said anything in the chat because she had no wish to do so.

At length, Fav said it was time to announce who had earned the most candies during the past week. _"Congratulations to Gudrun Odinsdottir, pon! And Jewel came a very close second. Of course, she isn't here this week, but Fav feels she deserves to be congratulated too, pon. As do all of you, pon. And, before you go, it's time to announce who will be training our two newest recruits. Yumi Tsubasa has agreed to be Tick-tock's mentor, pon. And Junglegirrl will mentor Princess Hanako, pon. May they collect lots of magical candies, pon."_

With that, Fav declared the chat over for another week and the magical girls logged out one by one. Cranberry watched as their avatars disappeared, thinking to herself that she and Fav only had to recruit one more magical girl, just one, before they could begin the test which would determine who among them was truly worthy. Which meant pitting the girls against each other in order to find the best fighters among them, not to mention weeding out weaklings like Kawaii Kazue. With all the bows and ruffles on her costume, she was most people's idea of what a magical girl was, cute and innocent, using her magic to do good in the world. But Cranberry wasn't interested in that sort of magical girl; she wanted fighters, girls who could face even the toughest opponent and come out on top. Just as she had done during her own selection exam all those years ago when another magical girl's attempt to summon a demon had gone badly wrong. Not because the demon had failed to materialise, but because it had then started killing everyone in sight.

Cranberry remembered it as vividly as if it had happened yesterday. The demon's unearthly screeching as it destroyed her fellow candidates one by one. The girl who had summoned it in the first place getting blasted into oblivion as she tried to recall it. The test supervisor attempting to intervene, only to suffer the same fate as the girls being tested. Herself, just nine years old at the time, facing off against the demon, feeling excitement surging through her body as she battled the creature which had caused so much destruction - and won. She had succeeded where twelve others had failed, earning her place in the Magical Kingdom. And, because the magical girl who had been acting as supervisor was dead, Cranberry had inherited both her title and her familiar, Fav.

She had quickly learned that she and Fav had a lot in common. In particular, they both found the usual selection tests boring. So they decided to spice things up a little by forcing the magical girls they recruited into life or death situations, even manipulating some of them into killing each other. This went against every law in the Magical Kingdom, but Cranberry didn't care about that; as far as she was concerned, no magical girl was truly worthy of the title unless she had survived against overwhelming odds, proving she had both the strength and the courage needed to be a true heroine. The tests normally used to find new talent simply didn't cut it.

Of course, if the Magical Kingdom got wind of what she and Fav were doing, they were bound to take action. Cranberry knew this, but she also knew that, provided she was careful to cover her tracks, and Fav's too, no-one ever need know they were conducting anything other than a run of the mill selection test. That was what they had done during previous tests and that was what they would do this time. They just needed to find one more candidate.

* * *

Jewel frowned as she checked her magical phone's log. She'd missed this week's chat because her human alter ego, Hiroko Maki, had other commitments in the form of her cousin's wedding, so she was reading through the archived version in order to catch up on what had been discussed. Not that she was particularly interested in the gossip of her fellow magical girls; she was more concerned with making sure she had maintained her place at the top of the rankings. "That can't be right!" she said out loud, staring at the heart-shaped screen. But it was right there in front of her; for the second time since she'd become a magical girl, someone had earned more candies than her and, as had been the case the first time, that someone was Gudrun Odinsdottir. "How could that bitch have beaten me again?!"

"Quite easily, pon." Fav popped up on Jewel's phone, scattering spores across the screen. "She earned more candies than you, pon. What do you expect Fav to do about it, pon?"

Jewel sighed, knowing there was no answer to Fav's question, which she suspected was rhetorical anyway. But she wasn't going to let this go, not by a long shot. Gudrun might have beaten her in the rankings once, but she had been certain it wouldn't happen a second time, especially after the call she'd made to the Viking girl's phone the following day. She had used every swear word she could think of and threatened "serious consequences" if Gudrun ever usurped her position as K City's top candy earner again. There was only one place Jewel wanted to be: at the top. And woe betide anyone who dared to outclass her, especially Gudrun Odinsdottir.

All right, since warning Gudrun over the magical phone hadn't worked, she would have to teach her a lesson in person. She turned to Goldirocks, who was sitting beside her on one of the arena's four large floodlights. "Come on. We're going to pay a visit to a fellow magical girl." She did not specify which magical girl, but her tone of voice was enough to tell Goldirocks that this would not be a friendly visit and that meant there was only one girl it could be.

"So where does Gudrun usually hang out?" Goldirocks (AKA Junko Takahashi) asked the moment she and Jewel had jumped down to ground level. Her magical girl persona was that of a pop star; she wore a skirt and crop top, high-heeled boots, a necklace and two bows in her golden hair. She'd chosen the name Goldirocks as a play on Goldilocks, who had been one of her favourite characters when she was a child, but had given her _Magical Girl Raising Project_ character a modern twist which meant the only thing she had in common with her near namesake was the colour of her hair.

"At the Fujiyoshi building," Jewel replied. Ever since Gudrun first beat her in the rankings, she had been keeping tabs on the Viking's movements, just in case she ever needed reminding who the queen bee among the magical girls in K City was. "And that's where we're going," she added, already beginning to visualise the moment she and Gudrun confronted each other. They'd met in the chat several times, but had never come face to face in real life - until now. She was looking forward to it, not least because her magic would give her a considerable advantage if it came to a fight: she could create a wall of light to deflect attacks. So, if Gudrun possessed any kind of combat magic, she had better watch out.

Goldirocks knew Jewel's current mood meant it was pointless arguing with her. If the pink-haired magical girl wanted to confront Gudrun, she would confront Gudrun, no matter what anyone did to try and dissuade her. Which meant the only thing Goldirocks could do was accompany her friend and fellow magical girl and provide back-up if it was needed. And, now that Gudrun had a student, chances were even Jewel's ability to throw up walls of light would not be enough to take her on alone, especially without knowing what sort of magic Lupina possessed. Still, Goldirocks thought to herself, her own magic, should take care of that. She could hypnotise others into dancing uncontrollably, including other magical girls. And, as long as Lupina was under the influence of Goldirocks's magic, she would be unable to do anything to stop Jewel from taking her revenge on Gudrun.

* * *

"Someone's coming!"

Lupina was the first to see the two figures leaping from rooftop to rooftop, heading in the direction of the Fujiyoshi building, where she and Gudrun were perched on the roof with their legs dangling over the edge. She did not need to be told that the figures were two of her fellow magical girls - no ordinary human could jump between the roofs of skyscrapers as casually as if they were a set of stepping stones - but she couldn't yet tell which two. All she knew was that, if one of them was Jewel, their intentions were unlikely to be peaceful, especially after Gudrun had beaten Jewel in the rankings for a second time. She gripped her sword (which was normally a felt-tip pen) and watched as they drew nearer, bracing herself for any signs of hostile action.

Beside her, Gudrun raised her shield in readiness; after last night's chat, she was expecting trouble from Jewel and she was prepared for it. She had looked up Jewel's stats on her magical phone and knew about her ability to deflect attacks, so she knew she would have to move quickly, try to fire off an energy ball before Jewel could use her own magic. The balls fired from Gudrun's shield came in three sizes: small, medium and large, but she had never used the latter because she knew it could kill and that went against every belief she had about what a magical girl should be. It was their duty to protect people, to use their magic for the good of others, to only resort to violence if there was no other way. And they certainly weren't supposed to kill. They . . .

Gudrun's train of thought was cut off as the magical girls reached the roof directly opposite the Fujiyoshi building, allowing her to see that one was Jewel and the other was Goldirocks. From the expressions on their faces as they leapt across the airspace separating the two buildings, she knew they meant business. She turned to Lupina. "You take Goldirocks! I'll deal with Jewel!" With that, she raised her shield and fired an energy ball in Jewel's direction. Jewel, however, moved a fraction of a second faster; even before Gudrun had activated her magic, she held up both her hands and a wall of light appeared in front of her, instantly deflecting her opponent's attack.

Using the heightened reflexes of a magical girl, Gudrun jumped out of the way seconds before she was hit by her own energy ball. She tried again, only for Jewel to counter with another wall of light. And the same thing happened every time she launched an attack; no matter how quickly she fired off her energy balls, Jewel was ready to deflect them. It was becoming clear that this battle, Gudrun's first against a fellow magical girl, was going to be hard to win. Unless . . .

"Lupina! Help me!" But, almost as soon as Gudrun shouted for her student to back her up, she saw that Lupina was in no position to help anyone. Goldirocks had her under some kind of hypnotic spell, a spell that was forcing her to dance; she was moving as though she was a marionette whose strings were being manipulated by an unseen puppeteer. A felt-tip pen lay on the roof nearby, a felt-tip pen which had recently been transformed into a sword, but had fallen from Lupina's hand when Goldirocks hypnotised her. And, since Lupina hadn't touched it for sixty seconds, it had changed back into its usual form. Gudrun was on her own, facing not one, but two opponents, one of whom could deflect her attacks, while the other could turn people into living puppets that could do nothing but dance. "Damn it, Lupina!" she shouted. "Snap out of it! I need some help around here!"

But, for all the good her words did, Gudrun might as well have stayed silent. Lupina continued to cavort on the spot, seemingly oblivious to what was going on around her. And, judging by the smiles on their faces, Jewel and Goldirocks knew it.

"She can't hear you," Jewel said, keeping her gaze fixed inexorably on Gudrun, the magical girl who had twice stolen her rightful place at the top of the rankings. Gudrun responded with another energy ball, which was quickly deflected by Jewel's wall of light, forcing Gudrun to dodge out of the way. But there was no way Gudrun could keep this up indefinitely; even magical girls had their limits, especially against others of their kind. If she failed to avoid any of her deflected balls, Gudrun would be in serious trouble, especially since she had chosen to make them large enough to knock her opponent out. So, if she was hit by any of them, she would detransform on the spot, cease to be the Viking-themed magical girl Gudrun Odinsdottir and become Megumi Kanai, an ordinary young woman with no magical powers whatsoever. And Jewel would almost certainly be ready to take advantage should that happen, to attack her rival while she was in her more vulnerable civilian form. Especially with Goldirocks to back her up.

* * *

Far above K City, Yumi Tsubasa and Tick-tock were on patrol, Yumi flying with the magnificent angel wings which she could sprout on her back, Tick-tock holding onto her mentor's hand. Having to carry a passenger did not impede Yumi in any way, which was just as well since, though magical girls could perform feats that were beyond normal humans, true flight was beyond most of them. Of K City's magical girls, only three possessed magic which enabled them to fly; Yumi was one of them and the other two were Pilot Crimson and Pilot Cobalt.

As she and Yumi flew over the Fujiyoshi building, Tick-tock caught sight of what was happening on the roof. Four people - four magical girls, to be precise - were up there, two of them in the middle of a confrontation in which one was firing energy balls from her shield, only for the other to deflect them every time. As for the other two, one of them was dancing as if she couldn't stop no matter how hard she tried. Tick-tock did not need anyone to tell her the fourth girl's magic was responsible; nor did she need anyone to tell her who two of the magical girls on the roof were. With her magically enhanced eyesight, she could see that one of them, the one being forced to dance, was Lupina, while the one firing the energy balls was Gudrun Odinsdottir. She did not recognise the other two, having not seen either of them in the chat, but it looked as though they had the upper hand. Well, not for long, she thought to herself. She was going to do something to put a stop to this. Just as soon as she was close enough.

"Quick," she told Yumi as they hovered over the heads of Lupina, Gudrun, Jewel and Goldirocks, none of whom were aware that two more magical girls had just appeared on the scene. "Take me lower."

Puzzled but sensing the urgency in her pupil's tone, Yumi complied. As soon as she and Yumi were within a few feet of the target area, Tick-tock reached for the oversized pocket watch that was part of her costume, took aim and pressed the watch's winder. Seconds later, the magical girls on the roof of the Fujiyoshi building were frozen in time, their bodies locked into whatever positions they had been in when Tick-tock activated her magic. Rather like pressing the Pause button while watching a DVD, only this was for real. Tick-tock's magic enabled her to manipulate time, albeit to a limited extent - Fav had made it clear that she could not change events which had already happened - but it was enough to put a stop to the confrontation which had been taking place.

Tick-tock surveyed the frozen scene. "Come on - let's grab Lupina and Gudrun and get out of here." Seconds later, Yumi had swooped down and picked Gudrun up with her free hand, while Tick-tock had hold of Lupina, forming a chain of four magical girls, one of whom was flying the other three down from the roof of the Fujiyoshi building. Lupina and Gudrun were still frozen, but Tick-tock knew they wouldn't stay that way; as soon as she pressed the winder on her watch again, they would be back to normal, as would the two girls who were still on the roof, though Tick-tock had no intention of deactivating her magic until she and the others were well clear of the area. She couldn't explain it, but there was something about the pink-haired magical girl and her companion that she didn't like.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"Where . . . am I?"

The last thing Lupina remembered was that she and Gudrun had been on their usual vantage point atop the Fujiyoshi building when they saw two other magical girls approaching over the rooftops. She recalled the moment the pair got close enough for Gudrun and herself to identify them as Jewel and Goldirocks, but anything that had happened between then and now was a complete blank in her mind. All she knew was that she was no longer on the roof of a skyscraper. Somehow, she had descended to ground level, but she had no memory of jumping down, which could only mean someone, another magical girl, must have carried her. But who? And where was she now?

She turned to see three magical girls nearby. Her mentor, Gudrun Odinsdottir, dressed as a Viking. Tick-tock, known as Keiko Ueda when she was detransformed, in her steampunk outfit. A girl in a white dress with a silver halo hovering over her head. She recognised the latter as someone who had been present at both the chat sessions she had attended, though this was the first time she had come face-to-face with her in real life. Yumi Tsubasa, the magical girl who was mentoring Tick-tock. And, just over Yumi's shoulder, she could make out the pagoda which stood in the centre of the local park, which solved the mystery of where she was but not how she came to be here.

She quickly put this question to Yumi, who grinned in response. "I flew you here, of course! You and Gudrun," she added, glancing at the Viking girl. "I was patrolling with Tick-tock here when we saw you guys and . . . well you looked like you needed some help."

Lupina shook her head, frowning as she did so. "I can't remember anything after Jewel and Goldirocks showed up. What happened?"

"Goldirocks happened." Yumi's expression was more serious this time. "She got you with her magic; you were dancing as if you couldn't stop. And Jewel was deflecting all Gudrun's attacks, so we thought we'd better get you guys out of there."

"Though we couldn't have done it without my magic," Tick-tock added, holding up the oversized watch that was part of her costume. "Time manipulation. Useful for, among other things, stopping a confrontation between magical girls. All I have to do is press the winder and time freezes within the target area until I press it again." Since her magic could be deactivated even if she was no longer in the vicinity, this meant, Jewel and Goldirocks would have been freed at the same instant she released Gudrun and Lupina, but that couldn't be helped. "I can also wind time backwards and forwards by up to an hour," she went on. "But I can't change stuff that's already happened; Fav told me himself."

Gudrun and Lupina agreed that this was very sensible. The risk that a magical girl with the power of time manipulation might be tempted to misuse her abilities could not be underestimated, so it was wise to remove that temptation by limiting what she could do with her magic. Not that there was much risk of Tick-tock succumbing to temptation, Lupina reflected; Keiko wasn't that sort of girl and, since she and Tick-tock were essentially one and the same person . . .

Just then, Tick-tock's voice cut through Lupina's train of thought. "There's one thing I don't understand. What were Jewel and Goldirocks doing there? And why were they using their powers against you?"

"Revenge," said Gudrun. And, with that, she began to explain about the rivalry between herself and Jewel. "I knew she was going to give me grief after the chat," she told Yumi and Tick-tock. "Especially since I'd beaten her in the rankings before. And I had a feeling she'd bring Goldirocks along for back-up, but I didn't know what form Goldirocks's magic took." She gave Lupina an apologetic look, thankful that the wolf girl had no memory of the dance she had been forced to perform. "Anyway," she went on. "Thanks. If you two hadn't shown up, I think Jewel would have beaten me in the end."

* * *

Jewel, meanwhile, was absolutely fuming. She had been on the verge of putting Gudrun in her place, but her nemesis had suddenly vanished into thin air and so had Lupina. There was no sign that either the Viking or the wolf girl had ever been present, no sign of any magical girls apart from herself and Goldirocks. Somehow, Gudrun and Lupina had been spirited away, cheating Jewel of her revenge, just as she had been cheated of her rightful place at the top of the rankings. There was no way she was going to forget this; she was going to make Gudrun sorry if it was the last thing she did.

But, before she did anything else, there was something she needed to know. And there was only one being who could give her the information she wanted. Sitting down on the edge of the roof, she took out her magical phone. "Fav," she said out loud, forcing herself to maintain at least a semblance of calm, "I have a question."

Fav appeared, scattering spores across the screen, his single wing fluttering. "Is it about Gudrun Odinsdottir, pon?"

Not for the first time, Jewel had an uneasy feeling that there was more to Fav than first appeared; he'd just anticipated the subject of her question before she could ask it. Nonetheless, she asked it anyway. "Yes, as a matter of fact it was. What I'd like to know is, how did Gudrun escape? And just as I was about to get my revenge."

"Logically speaking, I'd say she had help from Tick-tock, pon."

"Tick-tock?" Jewel had seen that name mentioned in that week's chat log, but had not yet met its owner, either in the chat or in real life.

"One of the two new girls Fav recruited last week, pon. She can manipulate time, so it wouldn't take much effort for her to make time stand still just long enough to get Gudrun away, pon. And Lupina, of course."

Jewel digested Fav's words in silence, not at all pleased by what the mascot had told her. She'd thought her ability to deflect attacks made her invincible, had counted on using it to defeat Gudrun by sending her own energy balls right back at her. But it seemed her magic did have a weakness after all, a weakness which had prevented her from deflecting Tick-tock's powers. As if being beaten in the rankings wasn't enough, her attempt to get revenge on Gudrun had been thwarted by a newbie. Anger surging inside her, she stamped her foot hard against the flat roof; since she had the enhanced physical abilities of a magical girl, this caused a crack to appear in the concrete, not that she cared. Her mind was filled with just one thought.

Some day, she was going to make both Gudrun and Tick-tock pay for humiliating her.

* * *

For the next few weeks, Jewel put her vengeful thoughts on hold in order to concentrate on the most important part of being a magical girl. The last thing she wanted was for Gudrun to beat her in the rankings a third time; twice was twice too often as far as she was concerned. She meant to teach both Gudrun and Tick-tock a lesson, but she knew spending time chasing down her rivals meant less time for earning candies by doing good deeds. Not that she was particularly altruistic; she didn't care about the people she helped, just about making sure she stayed ahead of Gudrun in the rankings. In any case, Fav had hinted that revenge was a dish best served cold, that she should wait and bide her time before she went after Gudrun again.

There was something off about Fav's reaction to her rivalry with Gudrun and Tick-tock, Jewel noted. He'd seemed almost pleased, as if he wanted to see the magical girls he'd created at each other's throats. And a conflict between magical girls could, thanks to their enhanced physical abilities, to say nothing of their magic, cause a great deal of damage. But she told herself it wouldn't come to that; a few rivalries here and there was one thing, an all-out war was quite another. Besides, if such a situation did arise, surely it would be Fav's job to stop it from escalating too far.

In the meantime, she kept tabs on Gudrun and Tick-tock by checking the chat logs on a regular basis. From this, she learned that not only had Gudrun and Lupina teamed up with Yumi and Tick-tock, they had also brought Junglegirrl and Princess Hanako into the fold. That meant her rivals were now part of a group of six, while she only had Goldirocks and her ability to hypnotise people into dancing uncontrollably to back her up. Which wouldn't do at all, especially now that she knew she couldn't use her magic to deflect Tick-tock's time manipulation. So she set about trying to create a team of her own, a band of magical girls who could back her up the next time - and there would be a next time - she tried to get her revenge.

Of the eight magical girls she contacted, only Fujiko agreed to join her team. Six others declined for various reasons, most of which concerned the fact that she had made her desire for revenge known. Kawaii Kazue said this "went against everything a magical girl should be", adding that she hoped all K City's magical girls could one day put any differences they had aside and learn to work together. Jewel immediately dismissed this as the idealistic drivel of someone who had watched too much cutesy magical girl anime and thought real magical girls were the same as their fictional counterparts. Being all goody-goody. Only using their powers to help others and/or to fight evil. Unfortunately, real life wasn't like that; when someone was chosen to become a magical girl, they kept all the same personality traits they had in their civilian form. Which, in Jewel's case, included her dislike of being second best.

There was one magical girl who never replied at all. Cranberry. Not that Jewel had expected anything else; after all, Cranberry never seemed to do anything except provide background music at the weekly chats. Jewel had contacted her all the same, thinking her magic might be of use. But apparently Cranberry just wasn't a team player.

* * *

"I got a message from Fav earlier."

It was Lupina who said this as she and the rest of Gudrun's group worked to tidy up a roof-top garden. This garden had been neglected for months, the company which owned the building on whose roof it had been constructed having gone bust, and the girls had decided giving it a make-over should be their good deed for the night. It didn't offer much scope for them to use their magic, apart from Hanako whose magic enabled her to control nearby plants, but it should net each of them a few candies. And so they had set to work, thinking how much better the garden would look when they were finished, not to mention how much easier this task was when they had the enhanced abilities of magical girls.

As one, the others turned to Lupina. Gudrun, Yumi, Junglegirrl, Tick-tock and Hanako. A silence which lasted several seconds followed before Gudrun spoke. "Funny you should say that. Because I got a message from Fav too."

"Yeah," added Tick-tock. "And me."

"Me too," said Hanako.

"Same here," supplied Yumi.

"So did I," said Junglegirrl. "But what did he say to you?"

Lupina looked at each of her companions in turn, reading on their faces a look which said they already knew what Fav had said to her because he had given them the exact same message. But she decided to answer Junglegirrl anyway. "There's going to be a big event soon, something which will involve all of us."

* * *

That was as much as Lupina was able to say. Fav's message, which had been sent out to every magical girl in and around K City, had given no further details about the "big event", but the mascot had insisted that everyone should attend the chat if they wanted to know more. Most of the girls thought this was simply an attempt to drum up attendance, but the message had piqued their curiosity, so, making sure no-one who wasn't a magical girl could see them, they transformed and logged onto their magical phones. One by one, the avatars which represented them in the Magical Kingdom appeared in the virtual conference centre where the chat took place.

Sitting on her bed, Lupina looked at her magical phone, whose screen was crowded with avatars. She was there, of course, as were Tick-tock, Hanako, Gudrun, Yumi and Junglegirrl, but so was every other magical girl she knew through the chat, if not in real life. Bright Spark in her black and electric blue outfit. Kawaii Kazue, decked out in pink and lavender. Jewel, wearing red and black velvet trimmed with gold. Requiem, whose costume was a combination of black and greyish purple. Da Vinci with her artist's beret and paint brush. Pilot Crimson and Pilot Cobalt, one dressed mostly in red, the other mostly in blue, both wearing goggles on their heads. Goldirocks, looking as though she had come to the chat straight from performing at a pop concert. Fujiko, wreathed in spiders' webs. Cranberry and her roses. Sixteen in total. Lupina was trying to recall if there had ever been a time when the chat had even come close to 100% attendance when . . .

. . . a seventeenth magical girl appeared, one Lupina had never seen before. This girl had ivory hair in a side ponytail and was dressed in some sort of ice blue armour, a matching cloak and tiara completing her costume. The first new addition to the ranks since Tick-tock and Princess Hanako and she had joined just in time for Fav's "big event", whatever that was. Lupina was intensely curious and she suspected the others felt the same, but she would have to wait until Fav showed up to find out. In the meantime, she directed her virtual self over to where her friends had congregated.

 _"Hi,"_ she said. _"Looks like we've got a full house this time."_

 _"I expect everyone's curious about the message Fav gave us,"_ said Yumi. _"I know I am . . . But who's the new girl?"_ she added after a moment's pause.

Before either Gudrun, Lupina, Tick-tock, Hanako or Junglegirrl could reply, not that they could have given a particularly informative answer about a girl to whom none of them had been introduced, a flurry of spores heralded Fav's arrival. The strange black and white creature flapped his single wing, scattering more scales, then got straight down to business. _"Fav is pleased to see you all, pon. Because Fav has something very important to tell you, pon. As you can see, we have a new magical girl joining us, pon. Her name is Blizzard and, while an addition to our ranks would normally be a good thing, unfortunately that is not the case this time, pon."_

At this, the magical girls began bombarding Fav with questions, demanding to know why the new girl, Blizzard, should not be made welcome. After all, what difference did it make how many of them there were? What did it matter if they numbered seven, or seventeen, or even seventy? Surely Fav should be pleased that another _Magical Girl Raising Project_ player had proven worthy to become a real magical girl. And yet he talked as though Blizzard's very presence in the chat was a problem.

 _"It makes a lot of difference, pon,"_ Fav said when he could get a word in edgeways. _"The mana which gives each of you your powers is drawn from the land, pon. The more magical girls there are in an area, the faster this mana is used up, pon. Eventually, it would be drained completely, pon. And there's only one way to stop this from happening: we must reduce our numbers, pon."_

It was Bright Spark who asked the question all but one of the magical girls in the chat both wanted and was afraid to ask. _"How you gonna do that, yo?"_

 _"By finding out who among you is truly worthy, pon. Starting from this chat session, you will be given a series of tests, pon. You must pass each of these tests to keep your powers, pon. But, if you fail even one of them, you will cease to be a magical girl, pon."_

Fav's announcement was greeted by another barrage of questions from magical girls demanding to know why he had created so many of them when he knew their magic was a drain on the land. Surely, as the game's mascot, he should have seen this coming. Fav apologised many times over, saying it was an oversight on his part, that he regretted any inconvenience he may have caused the girls. He also regretted the fact that Blizzard had to join their ranks just when it became necessary to thin them out, but it was done now and she would just have to take part in the tests along with the others. This meant she could lose her powers only a few days after she first gained them, which hardly seemed fair. In fact, as several of the girls told Fav, this whole thing was unfair. They had enjoyed being magical girls, having special powers, getting to wear cool costumes, being able to help others in ways they couldn't as ordinary humans. To have all that taken away just because they had failed a test . . .

 _"Fav is truly sorry you feel that way, pon. But it has to be done. And now to announce your first test, pon. Each of you must increase your candy count to at least 5000 pieces by the next chat, pon."_ This would test how determined each of the girls was; since none of them had anything close to 5000 candies, they would have to work extra hard if they didn't want to be eliminated, especially those at the lower end of the rankings. _"Fail to do so and you will lose your powers, pon. So work hard and earn lots of candies if you want to stay a magical girl, pon."_

 _"Oh, and we mustn't forget that Blizzard needs a mentor, pon. Jewel, that will be your job, pon. And that's it for another week, pon. Fav wishes all of you the best of luck, pon."_

* * *

Cranberry watched as the avatars disappeared one by one until hers was the only one left. As usual, she had not spoken in the chat. Even when everyone else was firing questions at Fav, she had continued to play her violin as if she was completely oblivious to what was going on. But her apparent indifference was deceptive; she knew precisely what was going on, having planned it all with Fav in advance. They had just needed to recruit enough magical girls and, now that they had . . .

. . . it was time for the game to really begin.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

In the days since Fav announced that their numbers were to be cut, all the magical girls had been working extra hard. None of them wanted to be eliminated, especially not in the first week, and the only way they could avoid this fate was to pass Fav's test by increasing their candy counts to 5000 or more. This meant they often stayed out until the early hours of the morning, looking for any opportunity to net themselves a few more candies, desperately trying to meet the target which they had been set. No ordinary humans could have done this without burning themselves out, but these were magical girls; things like tiredness and hunger did not affect them.

Right now, Pilot Crimson and Pilot Cobalt were flying over the streets of K City, suspended below magical gliders. One of these gliders, the one flown by Crimson, was emblazoned with the image of a red falcon, while Cobalt's glider bore the image of a blue eagle, hence why they were called the Red Falcon and the Blue Eagle. Their manoeuvrability far exceeded that of ordinary gliders, but each glider would only respond to its designated pilot; no-one apart from Crimson could fly the Red Falcon and the same was true of Cobalt and the Blue Eagle. Even so, being able to scout from the air gave Crimson and Cobalt quite an advantage when it came to spotting opportunities to earn candies, not to mention being able to get to wherever they were needed quickly. An advantage which, of the other magical girls in K City, only Yumi Tsubasa shared.

"Hey, sis," Cobalt said at length, her voice coming through on the Red Falcon's built-in communicator, "do you think Fav was telling the truth about us losing our powers?"

"I don't know," came the reply. "But it sounded like he meant every word of it. And that means we've got to earn at least 5000 candies each by the end of the week, or . . ."

". . . no more magic for us," Cobalt concluded, adjusting her glider's trajectory. "Ami," she added, slipping into her old habit of addressing Crimson by her real name, "what do you think will happen if Fav takes our powers away from us?"

If Crimson (AKA Ami Kiriyama) could have shrugged while flying a magical glider, she would have done so. "I guess we'll just go back to being plain old Ami and Kotone. But, if it comes to that, we can still cheer the others on from the sidelines."

"Yeah," said Cobalt. "And we should still be able to play _Magical Girl Raising Project_ on our smartphones. We just won't be real magical girls any more . . ." She trailed off, thinking of how, as Ami and Kotone, she and Crimson had discovered a game which was "completely free to play", a game in which the player character was a magical girl. Between them, they had come up with the concept of two magical glider pilots (one dressed in red, the other in blue), designed their outfits, named them after shades of their respective colours, taken their first virtual steps into the Magical Kingdom . . . Then, after they had both been playing for nearly two months, came the day Fav told them they had been chosen to become real magical girls. They had accepted without giving it too much thought, thinking they had simply unlocked a new level in the game. The next thing they knew, they had transformed into Pilot Crimson and Pilot Cobalt. They had become magical girls not only in a smartphone game, but in real life as well. And now, thanks to Fav's oversight, they were in danger of losing their powers.

"Well, we're still magical girls for now," said Crimson. "And, if we want to stay that way, we'd better get a move on and find some people to help."

* * *

Elsewhere, Lupina and the rest of Gudrun Odinsdottir's group had decided to check out K City's red light district, a place none of them would have dared venture in their civilian forms. But, while they were transformed into magical girls, they had advantages ordinary humans did not have. They were physically stronger, faster and more agile, not to mention that each of them had a unique magical talent at her disposal. Gudrun's ability to fire energy balls from her shield. Lupina's power to turn objects into weapons. Tick-tock's time manipulation. Princess Hanako's control over nearby plants. Yumi's magnificent wings which she could sprout at will. Junglegirrl, who could transform into any feline creature. So they would have little to worry about from the unsavoury characters they were likely to encounter in such a place.

Right now, they were stationed on the roof of one of the many strip clubs, keeping watch for signs of trouble. If any of them saw anything, a punter turning nasty perhaps, she was to alert the others and they would all jump (or fly in Yumi's case) down to street level and deal with whatever it was. Already tonight they had prevented three stabbings, increasing their candy counts considerably, edging ever closer to the 5000 candies they needed to earn in order to pass Fav's test.

Lupina, whose weapon tonight was a comb transformed into a pistol, switched on her magical phone and went to check her candy store: 4985. She only needed to earn another fifteen candies and she would stay a magical girl for at least another week. But what would happen after that? Would she be able to pass whatever tests Fav had in store for the girls in the coming weeks? Or would she be among those who ended up losing their powers? And just how many magical girls was Fav planning to cut anyway?

"What's on your mind?"

Lupina looked up at the sound of Tick-tock's voice. The steampunk-themed magical girl was sitting beside her as they perched on the edge of the roof, with the rest of their group nearby. "This whole business," she replied. "When Fav made me a magical girl, I thought I would be one for the rest of my life. And now he tells us we've got to pass a load of tests if we want to keep our powers."

"Yeah, this totally sucks," said Tick-tock. She looked down at the over-sized pocket watch that was part of her costume. If she could have wound time back to before it became necessary to reduce the number of magical girls in K City, she might have been able to do something to prevent their current situation. Warned Fav that he was giving powers to too many people, perhaps. But she knew that wasn't an option; her magic only allowed her to reverse time by up to an hour and she couldn't change something which had already happened. All she could do was try to pass Fav's tests. If she failed . . .

A sudden commotion from the street below cut through her train of thought. With her heightened sense of hearing, she had picked up the crude comments a group of men were making about someone, a woman. She could picture them, leering drunkenly at their victim, doubtless planning to do unspeakable things to her. Well not if she and the others could help it! They were magical girls, for now at least, and it was their job to help those in need.

"Come on!" Tick-tock jumped off the roof, closely followed by Lupina, Gudrun, Hanako and Junglegirrl, the latter transforming into the lithe and powerful form of a tiger as she landed. At the same time, a pair of wings erupted from Yumi's back; she angled them to catch the air and, with a single flap, flew down to join the others.

* * *

Three men, all of them much the worse for drink, had cornered a young woman in an alley, pinning her against a wall. The comments they were making left no doubt what their intentions towards her were and they also left no doubt that they would take it in turns to do what they planned to do. The woman was struggling to fight off her attackers, but wasn't having much luck; when she kicked out at the man nearest to her, he responded by wrapping his hands around her throat. "Listen, bitch," he hissed through clenched teeth. "You'd better shut up and do as you're told or . . ."

Before he could finish his sentence, he and his cronies suddenly found themselves confronted by five strangely dressed girls - and the biggest tiger they had ever seen. The latter sprang at one of them, knocked him to the ground and stood over him, teeth bared just inches from his throat. Taken completely by surprise, the other two had no time to even think about fighting back before one was felled by an energy ball fired from the shield carried by a girl dressed as a Viking, while the third, the one who had been threatening the young woman, found himself on the wrong end of a bullet in the shoulder, courtesy of a girl with a wolf's ears and tail. He fell to the ground, clutching his wounded shoulder, trying to ignore the burning pain of the projectile which had buried itself in his flesh.

Lupina lowered her gun, but did not take her eyes off the man she had just shot. She had not aimed to kill because that was not what magical girls were supposed to do, no matter who they were dealing with. Though her magic enabled her to transform objects into weapons, she had never used those weapons to end a life and only wounded another person if it was absolutely necessary. A bullet wound to the shoulder wasn't fatal, at least not right away. Which should give the man time to reflect on some of the choices he had made in life.

Yumi stepped forward and crouched down beside the woman. "Are you all right?"

The woman groaned, but managed to stagger to her feet, with Yumi's help. "I am now you're here," she said, relieved that the men who had cornered her had been put out of action. She was a newcomer to K City and, unfamiliar with the town's layout, had wandered into the red light district, where the men had tried to proposition her. She'd tried to explain that she was just lost, that she wasn't one of "those girls", but they'd refused to take no for an answer, had trapped her in the alley, where they'd made it all too clear that they had no intention of letting her go unless she gave them what they wanted. She dreaded to think what might have happened had these strange girls not intervened.

Strange girls. Weren't there supposed be rumours of strange girls with magical powers operating in K City? Had she just encountered a group of these . . . magical girls? She'd been somewhat sceptical when she first heard the rumours, putting the sightings down to things like over-active imaginations or even an elaborate hoax. Now, however, it looked as though magical girls were real and five of them, along with an enormous tiger which still had one of the men pinned down, had just saved her. She started to thank her rescuers, but the Viking girl, who seemed to be the leader, quickly cut her off.

"There's no need to thank us; this is all part of our job."

"Your job?"

"Yes. Earn magical candies in return for helping those in need. We're magical girls and that's what we do, us and the others like us." Gudrun tried not to think about the fact that she and the others in her group had to earn a certain amount of candy by the end of the week or lose their powers. Fav had made it clear that there was nothing he could do about that; he'd recruited more magical girls that the mana supply in K City could cope with, so some of them had to go. It was as simple as that. All any of them could do was work hard, try to pass Fav's tests and hope they got to keep their magic for a little while longer. "Anyway," she went on, "we'd better get you out of here. Don't worry; you're perfectly safe if you stick with us."

* * *

As the group of magical girls prepared to escort the woman out of the red light district, a thought occurred to Lupina. "What are we going to do about . . .?" She nodded towards the three men; the fight seemed to have gone out of them, especially the one she had shot, but there was no telling who they might go after next if they were allowed to get away. If she'd wanted to, she could have finished them off with her gun, but that would mean she was no better than they were. Magical girls were supposed to use their powers to help others, only resorting to violence if there was no other way. And they certainly weren't in the business of finishing people off, not even perverts like these men.

"Don't worry," said Tick-tock. "I'll take care of them." She reached for her watch and prepared to press the winder. "You'd better get out of there, Junglegirrl," she added, addressing the tiger which was still giving one of the men a close-up view of its teeth. Teeth which could easily tear his throat out, but Junglegirrl, like most magical girls, believed she should not use her powers to take a life. And, even in cat form, she retained all the beliefs she had as either a magical girl or an ordinary human being called Chihiro Oda.

Junglegirrl leapt off the man's chest, morphing back into a magical girl as she did so and hurrying to join the rest of the group. The instant she was clear, Tick-tock activated her magic, but not before she and the others had taken the precaution of joining hands. The girls in Gudrun's group had learned long ago that it was necessary to maintain physical contact when Tick-tock used her magic; otherwise it would affect them too and they would end up either temporarily frozen in time or being sent back or forward by up to one hour.

As the men became locked in position, Tick-tock turned to her companions, including the woman she and her fellow magical girls had saved. "Let's go," she said, wanting to get as far away as possible before she deactivated her magic. As a magical girl, she had no need to worry about what the men might do to her and neither did Lupina, Junglegirrl, Gudrun, Hanako and Yumi; any one of them could wipe the floor with all three just by using her enhanced physical abilities. The woman they had rescued, however, had no such advantages; they had to get her out of here before she got hurt - or worse.

Once they had taken the woman to safety, Gudrun and the others returned to the red light district to deal with the men. Yumi flew two of them, still frozen by Tick-tock's magic, to the roof of the nearest tall building and left them there; once Tick-tock had unfrozen them, the task of getting down should keep them busy for a while. Lupina, meanwhile, carried the man she'd shot to the local hospital and left him outside for the medical staff to find. It was more than he deserved, but a magical girl would never leave anyone, no matter who it was, to suffer.

* * *

Rescuing the woman from the three perverted men netted the girls in Gudrun's group 200 candies each, enough to put all six of them safely over the limit of 5000 candies they needed to earn in order to pass Fav's test. There was no let up to their nightly good deeds, though, and by the time the next chat session came round, each of them had at least 5500 candies. All their fellow magical girls, with the exception of Cranberry, had been working hard as well. Even Requiem, whose ability to guide the souls of the departed to their rest meant she usually hung out at funeral homes and other places where the recently deceased might be found, had helped a few living people for once. Since her kind of magic wasn't much use for this, it hadn't been easy, but she was determined not to be eliminated in the first week, so she'd made use of her enhanced physical abilities and, on the night before the chat, she finally brought her candy count over 5000.

As for Jewel, she and her group (which now consisted of Goldirocks, Fujiko and the new girl, Blizzard) had decided not to waste time picking fights with Gudrun's group and concentrated on earning candies. Perhaps, as Fav's tests progressed, she might be able to use one of them as an excuse to settle things with the Viking, but right now the important thing was to avoid getting eliminated in the first week. And that meant meeting Fav's candy quota; she could not afford to get distracted by a personal vendetta. Besides, Gudrun's group included Tick-tock and her time-manipulation abilities, a power neither Jewel nor anyone from her group could overcome.

But there had to be a way. Every magical girl had some means by which her powers could be neutralised, as Jewel had learned when her wall of light failed to deflect Tick-tock's magic. So all she had to do was find a way of getting round that problem, of making sure the steampunk magical girl couldn't freeze her in time again.

That, however, would have to wait. Right now, it was time for the weekly chat.

* * *

The moment Lupina logged into the chat, she saw that all her fellow magical girls apart from Da Vinci and Requiem were present. As always, she directed her avatar to where the other members of Gudrun's group were gathered, on the opposite side of the virtual conference centre to Jewel and her cronies. _"Hi,"_ she said. _"Good to see you. Wonder what Fav's got in store for us this time?"_

 _"Don't know,"_ replied Junglegirrl. _"But we'll find out when he shows up. And, talking of showing up, it looks like everyone's here again."_

 _"Not quite,"_ said Gudrun. _"There's still Requiem and Da Vinci . . . And there they are,"_ she added as the avatars representing the last two magical girls in K City appeared. Requiem was first, decked out in black and greyish purple, a hairpin shaped like a crescent moon in her twin-tailed dark hair which was so long that it almost reached her ankles. Of all the others, only Pilot Crimson had hair of a similar length. Da Vinci, wearing her artist's beret and holding her oversized paint brush, followed seconds later. Everyone greeted the pair, everyone except Cranberry who was, as usual, playing her violin in the corner and making no attempt to mingle with any of the others.

Not for the first time, Lupina wondered what Cranberry did between chats; even after several weeks, she still knew nothing about the magical girl with red roses on her costume. But, before she could think about it, a flurry of spores and the words: _Fav has entered the Magical Kingdom_ heralded the arrival of the game's mascot. The black and white creature flapped his single wing, scattering more spores, then got straight down to business.

 _"Greetings, pon. Fav is pleased that all of you have been working hard all week and have brought your candy counts over 5000, pon. Well done to all of you, pon. You have passed Fav's first test, pon. However, we mustn't forget why you were given this test, pon. Last week, you were told that this area has more magical girls than the local mana supply can handle, so some of you would have to lose your powers, pon. Therefore . . ."_

He was cut off at this point by an angry question from Bright Spark, who demanded to know what he planned to do about it. Everyone had passed his test, so they should all, even those who had barely scraped through, get to stay magical girls for at least another week.

 _"Quite simple, pon,"_ Fav replied. _"Whenever all of you pass a test, whoever has the fewest candies that week will automatically be eliminated, pon. And, with 5005 candies, the magical girl in last place this week is Requiem, pon. That means she will be the first to leave us, pon. Requiem, do you have anything to say before you go, pon?"_

To Lupina's surprise, Requiem did not seem too upset by Fav's announcement. Rather than ranting at the mascot about how unfair it was that he was stripping her of her powers even though she had passed his test, she gave a short speech about what an honour it had been to be a real magical girl and how she wished each of the remaining sixteen well. _"Goodbye, everyone,"_ she said. _"I'll never forget any of you."_

 _"And we'll never forget you, pon,"_ said Fav. _"Goodbye, pon."_

And, with that, Requiem's avatar disappeared.


End file.
